A Starry Sky Just For Us
by GlaciaLeafia
Summary: Midori had always been shy and didn't have many friends. Moving to Tokyo didn't make her situation any better, until a certain person decided to help her out of her shell.
1. Prologue: Accretion

**Prologue:**

**Accretion**

_March 21st Middle School Freshman Year_

"Mom, why can't we stay here?" asked Midori.

"Your father was transferred to Tokyo. We have to go with him," replied her mother.

Midori frowned with real apprehension. They had to move from the city of Kobe to the city of Tokyo, right when she was going to be promoted to her junior year of middle school. What made her anxious the most was the fact that she was going to lose her best friend that she made recently. Green eyes sadly looked down at the floor; feet shuffled a bit making her anxiety obvious.

"Midori, you can make new friends in Tokyo. It's not a nine-headed dragon dear." Her mother sat beside her, on the couch. It was as if her mother sensed her apprehension.

"You just need to act as yourself and forget your shyness."

It was easy for her to say. It was already difficult to keep her cosplays hidden from the other classmates, afraid of being judged. As far as Midori cogitated, her mother was already very displeased that her daughter enjoyed those types of things, maybe preferring to have a daughter – or even better – a son that would bring her pride.

Her mother tucked a few lose strands of orange hair behind her ear.

"Come on, Midori-chan, give mom a smile."

Midori simply looked up. She didn't exactly want to disobey her mother, but she also wanted to tell her what she really felt about all of this. Against her better judgment, Midori gave a smile.

"There we go, now Midori-chan, go to your room. We have a lot to pack tomorrow."

Nodding, Midori rushed to her small room. Sighing, she turned to the window, observing the lights of the city that drowned out the light of the stars. Approaching the window, her round green eyes spied the night sky. Most of the shiny stars were drowned out by the artificial light of the city, leaving much to be desired. Two bright stars were close to each other – maybe they were Gemini. She couldn't be sure.

Midori pondered, she wanted her life to like Tsukiko Yahisa's from the dating sim _Starry Sky_; but she knew it wouldn't be possible – nothing in shoujo anime or manga was possible anyway. There was no way that she was going to a rural high school, to be the only girl in the whole school and have all the boys fall heads over heels for her.

The young girl turned and sat on her bed. This weekend, on Sunday to be more precise, she was going to move to Tokyo. That left exactly one last week in her current middle school. It was not as if she had many people she had to say a goodbye. Just her friend Nao and her track team coach.

Midori sighed, staring at the ceiling. It would be better if she got some sleep. Tomorrow and the rest of the week the routine would continue itself for the last week. Morning classes, afternoon, the track team practice; and then going straight home for the evening, a rather dull routine. She just had this sinking feeling, a feeling that… She was going to regret something later on in Tokyo, something she couldn't put a finger on, unsure of what it could be.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Midori got dressed in her pajamas and laid down on her bed, ready to sleep. She took one last look at the picture on the bedside of Nao and herself before falling asleep.


	2. Aries

**Aries**

_11th of April Middle School Junior Year_

It was first day at Yamabuki Chuu and her stomach was burning with anxiety. It was right after the opening ceremony. She was now waiting outside her new classroom, class 3. How would the other students react to her? She had just been transferred from the Hyogo prefecture. Maybe some would be friendly and just start talking to her; or the most plausible reaction would be everyone staring at her and talking about her behind her back.

"Students, there's a new student transferring in," started the teacher on the other side of the slide door.

Midori's hands that held on the hem of her skirt clenched, slightly wrinkling her uniform. At least the uniform in Yamabuki was prettier compared to her old school's uniform in her opinion. It consisted of a white shirt with blue lining, the white skirt with matching blue hem, short white socks and black shoes. In her old school, it had been a dull red skirt with a white hem and the opposite for the skirt, white and red lining, and a blue tie mixed in.

"Hisaku-san come in."

Midori looked up and let go of her skirt. Breathing to herself, trying to appear more confident than she really was, she walked into the classroom. Standing up straight and tall into of the others, the green eyed girl wrote her name on the chalk board.

日咲 翠

_Hisaku Midori_

"My name is Hisaku Midori and it's a pleasure to meet all of you," said Midori, slightly bowing.

In the pastel beige colored room, all students seemed to be observing her very intently. Almost all seats of the classroom were taken, save for one in the front and one in the last row, in the far side of the room. Despite her introduction and the students in the class paying attention, everyone seemed to be puzzled. Discouraged, Midori felt her shoulders slumping slightly.

Coughing slightly to break the awkward silence, the teacher called Midori's attention.

"Hisaku-san, please speak louder."

Nodding slowly, she repeated herself, a bit louder. Watching all those eyes stare at her did not make her welcome by the least. She felt like an enemy entering the school, someone that was not welcomed in this class.

"You may take your seat over there, Hisaku-san," said the teacher, pointing to an empty desk next to the window.

Nodding, Midori silently made her way to her desk. She sat down and took her materials from her school bag. First class was History, one of her favorite subjects. Just five minutes into the lecture, a boy about her age opened the door and entered the room in a hurry.

"Sensei! Sorry I'm late!"

Midori blinked at the boy, who burst into the room. He was rather tall; then again, all of the guys of this school seemed to be tall. A goofy grin was plastered on his face showing his white teeth, but the feature that caught Midori's attention the most was the messy orange hair. The simple fact that there seemed to be two locks of hair that don't follow the flow of his rather choppy hair. Actually, they seemed to be pointing to the left.. Did he by any chance forget to brush his hair in the rush of morning?

"Sengoku-san! This is barely the first day and you arrive late?"

"Sensei, the alarm clock didn't go off."

"No excuses Sengoku-san, get two buckets, fill them up with water and stay outside in the hallway."

"Alright, alright. How unlucky~."

The Sengoku walked through the aisle desk and to the back of the classroom, picking up two buckets. Midori observed him as he walked to the back of the classroom, her interest in him being because of the strange twirls in his hair and the relaxed grin on his face. Normally, students that were late would be either upset or even angry with themselves. His attitude was a bit… strange.

Maybe she should have been more discreet in her stare, as he passed by her desk; he seemed to look at her by the corner of his eyes. A beautiful blue orbs of an light crystalline blue hue. How did he notice that she was staring at him? Was it that obvious?

The teacher sighed as the young boy left the room.

"How the hell did he even make it here after being this late?"

Shaking his head, the teacher started his lesson. New information was given to the students during the fifty-five minutes of class, and nothing about the teacher, Takano-sensei, calling Sengoku back. For the remainder of the class, Midori didn't see the orange haired boy.

In the second class, Sengoku was called back into call and asked to be seated in one of the remaining desks; a desk on the far side of the classroom, last row or one in the front row. He chose the last row. Morning classes progressed at a sluggish pace - English, followed by Mathematics, followed by History and so forth. It seemed like an eternity before lunch came around.

_Ring!_

There went the bell for lunch time. Few students left the classroom to eat in the cafeteria. Midori didn't even notice if the tardy student from earlier had left for the cafeteria. She had been too busy concentrating on her o-bento that she brought from home.

"He-llo!"

That surprised Midori. She had been holding her o-bento at the time and the unexpected and loud greeting almost made her drop it. Looking up, she saw a girl with short black hair with seemingly slightly taller than her come and greet her.

"You're the new student right?"

Midori nodded.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Nakano Yui," beamed the girl "Welcome to Yamabuki Chuu."

"Ah… thank you, Nakano-san."

"So how are things in Osaka? You're from Osaka right?" asked Nakano, eyes gleaming with interest at the new student.

Silently shaking her head, Midori gave a soft reply "Kobe."

"From the Hyogo Region?" Nakano slightly tilted her head to the side, maybe Geography wasn't her strongest point.

Midori blinked but nodded her reply. Their conversation was cut short as two classmates called Nakano. The said girl, turned to the classmates and gave a small gesture that she was going to be there soon.

"So Hisaku-san do you want to eat lunch with us?" invited Nakano.

"Um… No thank you."

Nakano looked surprised at her answer. Maybe she hadn't expected that Midori would have given that answer.

"Oh… So, alright, see you Hisaku-san!"

And Nakano left, joining the other two girls in the other side of the classroom. They pulled out their o-bentos from their bags and started having lunch. Midori sighed. Her first, impulsive, reaction was to reject the invitation and that hadn't been the best thing that she could have done. Her first day here and she had already shot down an opportunity to meet two more classmates and know Nakano better. As fast as lunch came, it ended and afternoon classes were resumed, literature, Chemistry, Physics and the rest of the subjects.

_Ring!_

The dismissal bell rang and the teacher called out who was assigned to clean the room. Midori hadn't been one of them. Gathering her things, she left wordlessly, walking down the stairs and grabbing her shoes in the shoe locker. She pu them on and started on her way home.

She waited on the bus stop a few minutes. There were a few students from Yamabuki in the same bus stop as her. Midori reviewed her day, at first she had been intimidated by the fact that it was her first day at Yamabuki Chuu but the classmate, Nakano Yui had been quite welcoming, even inviting her to lunch.

The bus arrived and most that were in the bus stop entered. A few were just following their friends (probably chatting about the day) before giving a goodbye. Midori entered the bus and sat beside a window. She obliquely looked out the window, seeing the urban scenery go bye. Pretty soon it was going to be late afternoon.

She wondered to herself. In Kobe, she lived close to the center; the many lights of the city drowned out the stars of the night sky. In Tokyo, though, she lived farther away from the center, close to a river. Probably there would be dark enough to stargaze. Just maybe…

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Finally got the revision of the chapter up. More description added on the classroom, correction of a few mistakes and such. Oh yes, and I actually tried to find a kanji for Midori's name. So if it's right or wrong, then tell me!<strong>


	3. Taurus: Proem

**Taurus: Proem**

_4th of May Middle School Junior Year_

It had been about three weeks since Midori had entered the school. The soft whispers that always caused her to be nervous had died down a bit and she had finally faded to the background. Nakano had invited her again to eat with her friends, this time she had accepted, but she had remained quiet as the girls chatted away; forgetting about her. It was alright by Midori for that to happen, not as if that hadn't happened before and the girls were chatting something about the tennis club.

"I heard that Sengoku-kun lost to Tezuka-san from Seigaku," commented one of Nakano's friends.

"Really? We lost the quarterfinals?" asked Nakano, curious about the team's performance.

"I guess Lucky Sengoku wasn't that lucky," laughed the other friend.

Midori quietly ate her lunch, wasn't Sengoku that strange fellow with the hair twirls? Over the few weeks, she had noticed that the strange boy was quite the flirt. At every opportunity he flirted with girls and every single time he flirted with the girl either laughed at him, ran away, or just rejected him. Maybe Lady Luck didn't give any luck when it came to love.

"And it was a total one-sided match. If I heard it right, Sengoku-kun managed to get only about five points." commented Nakano's friend.

"Five points? In all of the match? You got to be kidding!" exclaimed Nakano, surprised.

"No, really!"

"Maybe Lucky Sengoku's luck ran out."

_Ring!_

The bell that ended lunch rang. Students that went to the cafeteria filed into the classroom. Midori thanked Nakano and her two friends for inviting over to eat and walked over to her desk. Everyone was in the classroom, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Midori looked around, trying to see any familiar faces, or even the strange boy that flirted with everyone. She noticed instead that a student that she hadn't noticed before entered the classroom and had occupied the only empty desk from the first day. Tall, pale, white haired and golden eyed. She heard rumors on how he was violent, ill-mannered and often skipped classes. It also seemed that his name was Jin Akutsu.

Class continued after the teacher entered. Akutsu, as usual, wasn't paying attention, but the teacher, Fujimoto-sensei, wasn't afraid to demand his attention.

"Akutsu-san, I might as well remind you that there will be a test soon and you did poorly on you last quiz," said Fujimoto.

"Do you think that I care?" came the dry reply.

The teacher huffed, but repeated no more warnings. After all, it Akutsu's duty to take notes and pay attention, this apathy towards schoolwork was going to bite him back later on.

The rest of the classes passed by an uneventful matter. The day finally ended and the after school routine started. Midori grabbed her shoes in her shoe locker. She then left the school building; and walked to the bus stop. Boarding the bus, Midori went on her way home.

Ever since she moved to Tokyo, her afternoon routine had consisted of arriving home, taking a shower, eating dinner, studying and going to the riverbank to watch the stars for a few minutes, maybe about half an hour. A fond activity brought that she couldn't practice in Kobe, due to her living close to the heart of the city.

Midori was at the riverbank now, after studying, eating dinner and taking a shower. Sitting back, she looked up at the starry sky. There were few lights close to the riverbank, leaving it dark enough so that there would be lots of stars. Unfortunately it was also dark enough for someone to sneak up on her.

A lone figure approached Midori. He was tall, maybe the figure was about her age or maybe much older than her. It was too dark to tell, and apparently the person had no malicious intent. It simply approached her and tapped on her shoulder, which startled Midori, had thought that the figure was a pervert, even worse a rapist.

"Ah!" she screamed, scrambling up to her feet "Rapist!"

"Rapist? Where?"

The figure turned, looking for the said rapist, unaware that the girl had meant that he was the rapist. Taking advantage of that, Midori pushed the figure with all the force she could muster.

_Splash!_

The figure had fallen into the shallow river. The last thing that she had heard from the person was a low groan. If the figure was lucky, he would have gotten only a bruised butt, if he was unlucky he could have gotten a broken bone there.

"How unlucky."


	4. Taurus: Denouement

**Taurus: Denouement**

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><p><em>5<em>_th__ of May Middle School Junior Year_

Midori was walking from the bus to Yamabuki Chuu. The last night had been a rather eventful one; after all, she had pushed a probable rapist into the river. Though, looking back at it, she had thought that the voice of the rapist had been familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but not sure where. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she walked into the room where all the shoe lockers were.

While she removed her shoes to keep it in her locker, she couldn't help it but to hear a conversation of two boys on the other side of her row of lockers..

"Captain, I can't go to the training today," said one of them.

"Wait, what happened?" asked the other.

"Well, remember the fortune cookie? It said 'Be careful with the water', it was right."

"So you caught a cold?" asked the captain, a not very amused.

"I fell into the river."

"I… won't even ask how that happened."

Midori blinked, but shrugged it off. Just might be a coincidence that he fell into the river yesterday. It was also surely in the afternoon and in another river also!

_"Rapist? Where?"_

Midori sighed. That voice seemed so familiar.

_Ring!_

The girl looked up startled. Class was about the start and she hadn't even put on her school shoes. Quickly grabbing them out of the shoe locker, she slipped her feet inside the shoes and ran up the stairs. She would be lucky if Takano-sensei hadn't arrived now. She really didn't want to hold two buckets of water outside of the classroom.

_Bam!_

Midori had been so distracted in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that there was someone walking, almost idly, in front of her. She caught her breath, hoping that the person she didn't bump into wasn't Akutsu. Looking up, she saw the person whom she bumped into looking back at her. It was the orange haired boy.

"Lucky, just the person I wanted to talk to~."

"Um… Uh… Um…" said Midori, trying to remember his name.

He chuckled at her inability to remember his name. She remembered his face and knew what he usually did. She could not remember his name though.

"Sengoku Kiyosumi, nice to meet you," he said, grinning.

"Um… Hisaku Midori."

"You're just the person I wanted to talk to Hisaku-san."

Midori blinked. Why did he have to talk to her, she had never talked with him before. Was it a rumor that he was going to tell her? Was he going to flirt with her? Why did it seem to her that he was radiating luck? Midori looked at Sengoku, waiting what he was going to say. Instead, of talking, he seemed to notice something behind her. Unknown to Midori, Takano-sensei was already walking down the hallway to their class; their luck was that he was looking down at some papers in his hand.

"How unlucky~, Takano-sensei is here, we better get going to class," said Sengoku, turning around and walking to the classroom.

Midori blinked then looked over her shoulder only to see Takano-sensei walking down the hallway. Quickly remembering that if Takano-sensei saw her outside of class she would need to hold two bucketful of water outside of the classroom, Midori headed to the classroom and entered it. She quickly took her seat. She looked around to see that Sengoku had also made it in class, but it was still strange that she felt that he was radiating luck.

"Good morning everyone, I'm sorry I am late," said Takano-sensei as he entered the classroom.

Classes continued normally, then came lunch. As usual, Nakano Yui, would come over to Midori and invite her to eat with her friends. Something unexpected happened instead. Nakano didn't come to invite her; instead, Sengoku came over while she was silently eating her lunch.

"Hisaku-san~, are you too busy?"

Midori shook her head.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Midori felt eyes staring at her. He seemed to be a well-known person in Yamabuki, she didn't know for what though, but that was enough to make people stare at her.

Midori silently nodded at Sengoku's question.

"Lucky~! Hisaku-san, you were in the river yesterday, why did you push me into the river?"

Midori frowned. She hadn't pushed him into the river; he must be confusing her with someone else.

"I didn't push anyone into the river," lied Midori.

Technically she did push someone into the river, just not anyone from Yamabuki into the river.

"Hisaku-san, you pushed me into the river and it really did hurt, you know."

"I didn't push anyone into the river Sengoku-san," assured Midori, becoming a little agitated with his insistence.

She could hear a few whispers between classmates. They were surely commenting about the scene. The new student and one of well-known classmates. A few that were nearby and that could have eavesdropped on the conversation, were probably commenting on how she pushed him into the river.

Midori internally sighed. She hadn't pushed anyone from Yamabuki into the river!

_Ring!_

And with that lunch ended. Just what she needed. Everyone, including Sengoku, took their places for the following classes. Midori didn't really pay attention to the following classes, thinking about what Sengoku had told her. She didn't know who she pushed in the river and there was Sengoku claim that she pushed him in the river. She doubted that it was him that she pushed into the river, as far as she knew, he didn't live in her neighborhood. Then again, she never bothered to look around to see who else from her class was in her bus, so it was possible Sengoku did live in her neighborhood.

Sighing, Midori just wished that the classes would end quickly.

The hours passed in slow pace, but soon class was over. Midori, once again, followed the afternoon routine. One thing kept bothering her though, the simple possibility that what Sengoku said to her during lunchtime was true. Pondering the choice of going to the riverbank or not, Midori eventually decided to go to the riverbank, to satiate her curiosity.

Like the days before yesterday, the riverbank was dark. Heavenly light shone down on the river, dotting the endless navy blue palette that was the night sky. Midori sat quietly on the riverbank; observing the stars and keeping herself alert for the possibility of the same person from the night before, whom Sengoku claimed to be, appearing.

It wasn't long until he, the figure, appeared on the riverbank and approached Midori.

"Hisaku-san?"

Slightly startled, Midori got up to her feet. Her fight or flight instincts told her to fly, but she lost her footing when getting up. She was about to fall into the shallow water when the figure grabbed her wrists, causing them to both fall in. For a few eternal seconds, Midori struggled against the figure's grip. He was able to hold both of her wrists with one hand. Midori struggled harder, futilely attempting to get away. The figure's free hand travelled to his pocket. Midori's eyes widened before shutting them tightly. In his hand was a knife, she was certain of that.

Suddenly, Midori could feel a bright shine on her face and slowly opened an eye. To her surprise there was Sengoku; holding her wrists and grinning at her with a goofy smile that told her he had no malicious intent.

"Sengoku-san?"

"Yes, that's me. Sorry for startling you, Hisaku-san."

Sengoku let go of her wrists and got up. He offered her a hand to which Midori hesitantly took.

"Why did you come here?"

"You were the one that pushed me into the river yesterday and you didn't believe me," he replied with the goofy grin still plastered on his face.

"So… why did you come over yesterday?" asked Midori, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I wanted to talk with Hisaku-san for a bit?"

Midori blinked. Why would he need to talk to her? She ran a few thoughts through her head of what he would want to talk about but couldn't be sure. She snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed that Sengoku was already sitting down on the riverbank, gesturing for her to sit down next to him to which she complied.

Sitting down on the soft grass, Midori looked up at the night sky, waiting for Sengoku to start.

"You know, Hisaku-san; you look like you isolate yourself in Yamabuki."

No reply. It was blunt start of conversation that held a good amount of truth.

"On your first day, you rejected Nakano-san's offer of joining her to lunch. That was a bit strange because Nakano-san is one of the most welcoming people in Yamabuki."

"Um… I was…" started Midori, attempting to find an excuse for what was said.

"And even when you accepted their invitation, you never did talk to them. Do you really consider them friends? Because I am almost sure that they don't consider you as a friend because of you quietness."

Midori blinked as he continued.

"Are you afraid that the people here aren't nice? Well, exception to Akutsu."

The girl slowly nodded.

"You won't find out if you don't start talking to them. Why don't you try mentioning some of your likes? Maybe they like the same things you do." Slowly, Sengoku stood up, looking at the starry sky above; flashlight off and hands in his pockets.

"Well then, I have to go. See you, Hisaku-san. Hope you take these advices to heart." And with that he was off, leaving Midori alone to think about everything that Sengoku had just said.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: A long update. Sorry for not updating in over a week, let's say I was in a cruise stuck without internet for a week and no communicating with my beta reader in regards to the finished chapter. Yes, that means that probably next update this chapter will be reposted with either major or minor modifications. Other than that, I've researched the dates for the signs and I've noticed that the chapter names coincide with the dates in each chapter. Lucky~<strong>

**See you all next update~ (And for the promise in the last chapter -hands everyone that guessed correctly the cookie-)**


	5. Extra Chapter: Lynx

**Extra Chapter**

**Lynx**

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><p><em>10<em>_th__ of May Middle School Junior Year_

Midori sighed as she entered the gates of Yamabuki. Sengoku had confronted her five days ago about she being quiet the whole time and not trying to make friends. During those five days she had encouraged herself, telling herself that Nakano had been nice to her by always inviting her to eat with her and her friends. It should be easy as a cake talking to her since she seemed like an open person.

Walking inside the room with the shoe lockers, Midori changed her shoes. It was time to look for Nakano before the bell rang and classes started.

She walked up the stairs. It didn't take long to find Nakano talking with one of her two friends. Nakano was seated while her friend was leaning on the table; on the table was a small box in blue wrapping, probably her o-bento. Midori slowly approached the two.

"Eh? You brought your mom's famous broiled salmon?" asked Nakano's friend.

"Yeah, I had to beg almost all night, but I had to give up this month's allowance to have it in the end," replied Nakano, nodding contently.

"Um…"

The two looked at Midori, slightly surprised that she walked up to them to talk to them. Normally she walked over to her desk, silently waiting for the class to start.

_Say something! Anything!_ She thought to herself.

Without warning, a black cat jumped from the tree next to the open window, bit down on the small knot that wrapped the o-bento and took off with Nakano's lunch. The three girls stood stunned for a second. Nakano was the first to take action, getting up from her seat and charging after the cat.

"Come back here!"

Midori followed Nakano and the cat. She decided to help Nakano, because the girl had been friendly with her, actually trying to become friends with her, it was Midori, who was making it hard by not talking to them at all.

Nakano and the cat were up ahead in the hallway. Midori quickly gained on them. The classmate looked surprised to see Midori beside her, also running after the cat.

"Why are you here?" asked Nakano.

"Trying to help you," replied Midori.

Nakano seemed to slowly digest this new fact because her surprised expression stayed plastered on her face before it slowly turned into a smile and nod. The two continued chasing the cat down the hallway. Surprised students quickly moved out of the hallway as the two charged by. The first stairway came into sight and the cat quickly went down it.

The two girls ran down the staircase, Nakano taking one step at the time except for the last two where she jumped them and Midori taking one step at the time till the end.

The chase continued to the school front court, the cat passing through other students' legs while Nakano and Midori tried their best to dodge the students. The chase continued like that for a long time. Midori was sure that during the chase they passed in front of Sengoku and another boy with brown gravity-defying hair.

"Ah, a black cat! Lucky~!"

"This isn't going anywhere, we need a plan," said Midori, starting to feel tired from all the running.

"Right, keep chasing the cat to the tennis court, we can trap it there," replied Nakano, sketching the plan.

The two kept running after the cat. Nakano took charge, steering the cat from its original direction and to the direction of the tennis courts. Midori kept behind the cat as it changed its direction and as the tennis courts came into sight. The entrance to the tennis courts was conveniently open.

The cat entered the court followed by Midori then Nakano. While Midori charged after the cat, Nakano closed the door, the only entrance to the tennis courts. Nakano then ran, steering the cat to the corner. It wasn't long until the cat was trapped in the corner of the tennis court. Seeing no other escape, it let go of the o-bento, meowed and ran away.

A panting Nakano picked up her stolen o-bento.

"Wow, I guess even cats love my mom's broiled salmon," commented Nakano before she started laughing.

Midori joined in the laughter, before it was cut short by a ring of the school bell. They were going to be late to class!

"Argh! Come on Hisaku-chan! We're going to be late!" said Nakano, starting to run.

"W-Wait for me Nakano-san!"

With that the two took off running to class. Unfortunately they arrived late and the two were now outside of class, each holding a heavy bucket filled to the brim with water.

"Ah~, Takano-sensei is so mean," muttered Nakano, adjusting the grip on the bucket.

"At least we got your o-bento back," replied Midori.

"That's right, thanks for the help Hisaku-chan," said Nakano, a bright smile forming on her lips.

"Um… It was nothing Nakano-san."

Midori shuffled her feet in awkward silence.

"Call me just Nakano now, alright? Drop the honorifics."

Midori smiled and nodded. Perhaps this was the beginning of a fun friendship between the two.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes: First extra chapter. I first need to thank Temari-chan who beta'd the fic and encouraged me to go on with it and use it to my advantage. This chapter actually helped me continue with Midori's characterization and actually gave me some basis to finish the Gemini chapter. Huzzah!<strong>

**Changed the part where Sengoku (and Minami) make a cameo. Just found out that black cats in Japan give good luck. ;)**

**Once again, thank you Temari-chan for you betaing my fic! This chapter is dedicated to you!**


	6. Gemini

**Gemini**

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><p><em>20<em>_th__ of May Middle School Junior Year_

Classes had just ended for the week and Midori was one of the first ones out of the classroom together with Nakano and her two friends. Over the last few days, she had seen a gradual improvement in her friendship with the small group of girls. It took her a little time for her to start opening herself to Nakano and her friends, but she eventually started talking to them.

"Hisaku-chan," called Hirano Kurumi, a short brunette girl, one of Nakano's friends.

Midori turned to face one of her new friends. Hirano was a bit different from Nakano, from some of the talks they've had, and she seemed like the more sports oriented person. Nakano enjoyed playing volleyball, but wasn't in the volleyball club like Hirano. Hirano was even one of the regulars of the volleyball team despite of her short stature.

"Why don't you try out for the track team?" asked Hirano, stopping beside Midori.

"Eh…?"

"You were in the track team back in Kobe right? Right?" The short girl continued.

Midori blinked. When Midori started actively talking to them, it was about sports. It was true that she was on the track team, but she had made it into the team by an average margin, being neither the fastest nor the slowest. She slowly nodded.

"You should try out for the track team, I bet you'll be able to make it in," cheered Hirano, slightly spinning in the hallway.

"But—"

"No buts, tomorrow you're going to try it out," interrupted Hirano.

"Kurumi-chan, shouldn't you be going to volleyball practice?" asked Nakano.

Hirano blinked three times in a row, before looking at her watch. She gasped. She was already late, very late. Midori theorized that the coach would be very angry or was very strict, because of the speed of which Hirano ran away at.

"Nakano, do you want to go get some ice-cream in the park?" Midori invited, turning to Nakano.

"Sorry Hisaku-chan, I promised my little sister that I would take her to buy a stuffed toy," replied Nakano, apologetically. "Next time alright."

Sighing, Midori turned to the last girl that hadn't left the group to do any afternoon activities. Mao Sato. She was tall compared to the other girls and had long auburn hair tied in a high ponytail. She was normally the one that started the conversations during lunch, bringing news from clubs, magazines, television, or the gossip around the school.

"Sato-chan, do you—"

"Sorry Hisaku-chan," interrupted Sato. "Today's Friday, and I have oboe practice. Call me and I'll call the rest, so tomorrow we can go get ice-cream, alright?"

"If everyone is free only tomorrow, we could go to the karaoke bar instead," replied Midori.

Sato nodded and gave a big smile.

"Alright, call tonight, ok? See you Hisaku-chan." Sato said before turning and leaving.

Midori grinned to herself. Karaoke, she loved going to the karaoke, but it would be the first time she was going to go to the karaoke bar with them - but what to sing? Never mind, she always could decide later. She headed outside of the school building and into the street, making her way to the park.

The park wasn't that big, it was actually one of those tennis parks. She had been walking through it one day and happened to find an ice cream vendor that sold a very tasty ice cream. She slowly made her way through the park.

Normally the tennis park would be quiet, during the weekdays, not many people came here as Mshe had discovered on the day that she took to explore the nearby area. Today seemed to have a little more movement, but that could just be the weekend coming around.

"Lucky~!"

Stopping in her tracks, she observed the scene in front of her. Was that Sengoku with a pair of binoculars?

It was definitely the orange haired boy in front of her, on the roof of one of the sitting areas, looking at one of the tennis courts, particularly the court where four girls were playing.

"Sengoku-san what are you doing up there?" asked Midori, despite the answer being obvious.

"Hm…? Ah! Hisaku-san!" exclaimed Sengoku, getting up and jumping down from the roof. "I'm just watching some cuuuuute girls. You know, there's always some cute girls practicing tennis here~."

"You seem to really enjoy seeing girls, Sengoku-san," replied Midori, sweat dropping.

"My daily prediction said that I was going to be luck in love today~." Sengoku replied, a silly perverted smile forming on his face as he turned to look at the girls.

"You believe in those?" asked Midori, eyes filled with surprise.

"I'm not called Lucky Sengoku for nothing." Sengoku smiled.

"Lucky Sengoku?"

"Not Lucky Sengoku, _Lucky_ Sengoku," corrected Sengoku "Ja, ja, what brings you here Hisaku-san?"

"Ice cream."

"Ice cream?" asked Sengoku looking around. "Oh yeah, the ice-cream vendor here, Kimura-san, right?"

Midori nodded, smiling.

"Yosh! Gemini's lucky item for today is ice-cream," announced Sengoku.

Midori blinked. Was he a Gemini person? She was a Cancer person, being born on the 28th of June. She didn't really follow the horoscopes down to the point of knowing the lucky item of the day, but the way that Sengoku simply dumped the information on her and his nickname, it seemed like he took fortune-telling very seriously.

"Ah, ah! Can you wait a second Hisaku-san?" said Sengoku, turning around then hopping on one foot before taking off to talk to a cute girl.

Midori couldn't help but to shuffle her feet in awkward silence as she saw Sengoku talk to the girl. It was strange for a person to leave in mid conversation to go talk to another person. The girl that Sengoku went to talk to was one of the four that had been playing tennis a few minutes before.

"Hey, hey where do you come from?" said Sengoku, using his best charms. "I haven't seen anyone like you or your friends around."

"Well… My friend invited me to play tennis here," said the girl, slightly blushing.

Midori observed the scene. Maybe she was the first girl that Midori had ever seen fall for Sengoku's charms. The two talked for a few more seconds before the girl did something Midori least expected her to do. She kicked Sengoku in the shin and there he went, jumping up and down, clutching his shin. Had he suggested something inappropriate?

"Sorry Sengoku-san, but I already have a boyfriend," replied the girl, before walking away.

Midori covered her lips with her hands in a futile attempt to stifle her laughter as she walked up to the boy..

"Sengoku-san, are you alright?"

"Ja, ja, unlucky~," he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck "Maybe it wasn't my lucky day."

"What did you say that got her so worked up?"

"I said that there was a nice café close by and asked if she wanted to go eat something there."

"Like a date?" asked Midori, tilting her head slightly.

"Like a date~. Too bad she has a boyfriend." sighed Sengoku "Unlucky~."

"Um…There's… um… other girls in the world, you shouldn't be this upset" started Midori, slightly shuffling her feet "How about you eat some ice cream with me?"

Midori mentally facepalmed, she did point out the obvious. Even Sengoku knows there are other girls in the world, that's why he seemed to try out his luck with every single one of them. Didn't he seem a little desperate?

"Really? Lucky~!" exclaimed Sengoku, quickly grinning.

"Then let's go."

The two started walking through the tennis park. The elder ice cream vendor wasn't very far from where they were in the park. Kimura-san was an elderly man, thin white giving away to bald spots and quite a few wrinkles filling his face. Midori asked for a chocolate flavored ice cream while Sengoku asked for a mint flavored ice cream. The two paid and sat in a nearby bench.

"Ah, ah, Kimura-san's ice cream so good," commented Sengoku as he took a bite from the ice cream.

"Mhm."

"Hisaku-san…"

Midori blinked and looked over at Sengoku.

"You seem friendlier than before," Sengoku said, looking over at her and grinning. "You actually started talking to classmates."

Midori blinked again but nodded. It was true, she had started to talk with a few classmates, but the ones that she had talked the most with were Nakano and her friends, especially after the thieving cat incident.

"You were right; I just had to start talking to them. Nakano, Sato-chan and Hirano-chan were willing to become friends with me, but I guess that by being afraid… I really delayed myself in becoming friends with them," said Midori, fiddling with the ice cream cone.

Sengoku chuckled, looking up at the clouds. Midori looked at the orange haired boy. Curious as to what he was going to say next, if he was going to say anything at all. He could just as well leave her alone like he did at the riverbank.

"Hisaku-san, if you continue like that, maybe you'll end up making more friends."

"Sengoku-san."

"Yes, yes?"

"Thank you," whispered Midori, shuffling her feet.

"Don't thank me," came the reply.

Midori looked up, a little confused, it was because he told her not to be afraid that she gained the courage to actually to start talking to the rest, even though it took a little while afterwards.

"You actually gathered courage to actually try to make friends," explained Sengoku "I merely gave you a little push."

She smiled. Sengoku was a sweet person, despite his tendency to flirt with every girl in his sight. He even cared about others - or at least he seemed to care about her, giving her the little push needed to build up courage and make friends.

Midori ate the last bit of her ice cream cone. Standing up, she turned and bowed. She needed to head home; it was starting to get late. Lazy orange rays were slowly disappearing behind the trees in the tennis park.

"I need to go now; it was nice talking to you," said Midori, ready to leave.

"It's getting dark, let me walk you home," said Sengoku, standing up and picking up his binoculars.

"N-No, you don't really need to do that."

"Nonsense, I can't leave a cute girl like you go walking around alone when it's dark," he winked, chuckling at how she became flustered.

With that the two started to walk towards Midori's house, Sengoku commenting how tennis practice had gotten rather dull and that Yamabuki was probably not going to Nationals this year. Midori paid close attention to everything Sengoku said. He played tennis and he was the famous school Ace, Lucky Sengoku.

"Hey, Hisaku-san, do you play any sports?" asked Sengoku.

"Um… I used to be on the track team," Midori replied, looking curiously at Sengoku.

"Why don't you try out for the track team?" he asked. "Even if you don't make it to the main team, maybe you'll make it to one of the reserves."

"Ah… Hirano-chan said the same thing, about trying out for the track team," informed Midori.

"Then go and try out," grinned Sengoku.

The two arrived in front of Midori's house.

"Thank you for walking me here Sengoku-san," said Midori, bowing.

"Relax, no need to bow," replied Sengoku, turning to leave. "Ja, ja, I need to go now. See you on Monday Hisaku-chan."

"See you on Monday, Sengoku…" Midori stopped, unsure of what honorific to use. "…Sengoku-kun."

She watched as the young boy waved at her then disappeared into the night, heading out to wherever he lived. She smiled to herself before she remembered. That's right! She needed to call Sato in order to plan the outing to the karaoke bar!

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: Hello guys~! Again I would love to dedicate the chapter to Temari-chan! She beta'd the chapter for me. So just a fun piece of info, for those who think that ran away from the chapter name theme in the last chapter, Lynx is the name of one of the 88 official modern constellation. ;) You learn something new everyday.<strong>

**I hope you all enjoyed the Gemini chapter!**


	7. Extra Chapter: Columba

**2****nd**** Extra Chapter:**

**Columba**

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><p><em>28<em>_th__ of May Middle School Junior Year_

The alarm clock went off later than the usual six o'clock, it was a Saturday – a day to rest for most people and for Midori, but today she would be rather busy shopping. She had to buy cosplay materials, the next anime and manga conventions – her first one in Tokyo – would in about little less than a month from today. she wanted to go to the convention with a brand new cosplay and with the things she heard about Tokyo, finding the cosplays would be easy.

Sitting up on her bed, Midori turned the noisy alarm clock off. She looked around at her room. Anime figures of some of her favorite anime characters decorated the small table beside her bed. Yoko from Gurren Lagan, Saber from Fate/Stay Night, Nanonha from Nanoha Magical Lyrical Girl were the three on her beside. On her study table, there was a few more, Megumi from Burst Angel, Black Rock Shooter and Yuki Nagato from Haruhi, but her most prized figure was the one of the Kumiko Tezuka the stoic captain of the main team of the anime The Princess of Lacrosse, Hyoushun Gakuen or Hyougaku for short.

On the wall there were small shelves, filled with manga series that she had completed such as Busou Renkin, Hellsing, Lovely Complex and Card Captor Sakura.

"Hm… Maybe I should cosplay as Kumiko," mused Midori as she got up and changed into a simple white dress and matching shoes.

She then left her room and headed down to the kitchen where her mother was preparing her breakfast. She entered the kitchen to see her mother making some steamed rice for her and her father was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper.

"Good morning Mom, good morning dad," greeted Midori.

"Good morning Midori," said her father.

"Good morning sweetie," said her mother, putting her rice bowl on the table.

While her mother and father chatted about the everyday things Midori distracted herself with eating the rice and thinking about what to buy. Kumiko Tezuka had short dark green hair, wore glasses and wore her lacrosse clothes, short sleeved shirt with blue and white; and white shorts. It would very simple to find the costume for the captain; Princess of Lacrosse was a very popular anime and manga series after all.

Breakfast ended and Midori grabbed her bag, time to go and buy her materials for the cosplay. She wouldn't want to see her friends, Sato, Nakano or Hirano, she hadn't really told them that she cosplayed, she hadn't even told her friend Nao when she lived in Kobe. She had no idea how they would react and in her mind, she didn't really think that they would like to see that she cosplayed.

Midori sighed to herself as she made her way to the train station, close to the heart of Tokyo was a store that she looked up in the internet. She looked at the list which she wrote down, wig, glasses, and the uniform. That was not to mention the very specific hair clip that Kumiko Tezuka used – a black strip with a lacrosse stick image embedded.

Reaching the train station, Midori waited for train patiently, looking to the sides once in a while to see if there was any familiar person around. Fortunately for her, no one familiar was around and the train arrived. Hopping on the train, Midori sat down on one of the available seats.

After a while, Midori was very near to the heart of Tokyo, in the shopping mall where the store was. Walking through the mall, Midori found the store. It pretty large and the selections were wide; they even had almost of all sizes also, from very large to petite sizes. The aisles were long and displayed the hung costumes.

Picking through the female section, Midori found the one she was looking for. She searched for the one with her size and tried it on. It fit perfectly. The next item was the wig. The store also had the wig, but the only item that she needed that it did not have was the hair clip. She took everything to the cashier and paid for the items.

A morning well spent. She had found most of her items and the hair clip could always be bought later, after all, the convention was a little less than a month away, more than enough time to find the clip.

Having taken the train back to her neighborhood, Midori was walking home, eager to check for any details that she may have missed on her cosplay and also to find a place in the section of her closet that accommodated her cosplays. She passed in front of the tennis park, the same one where the ice cream vendor sold his ice cream.

_Pock!_

It seemed like someone was playing a tennis match.

_Pock!_

"Lucky~!"

Midori blinked. She could recognize that 'Lucky~!' anywhere. Sengoku was probably playing a tennis match here. Stopping in her tracks, Midori bit her lips in silent debate whether she would go to watch the match and maybe chat a bit with Sengoku, or if she walked directly home. It ended up that she went to watch the match.

Reaching the tennis court, Midori stopped close to the fence, Sengoku's back to her. Sengoku was there alright, wearing brown pants, a white shirt and a green coat with some orange and white lines. He was playing against another boy, apparently younger than him, who wore a blue pants, deep purple shirt and a light blue jacket with white details. An unusual detail about the boy was that he wore sunglasses while he played tennis.

"Muromachi-kun, you seemed to have gotten better since last time," commented Sengoku.

The young boy threw up the tennis ball and hit the racket. A serve. Sengoku returned it with ease. The rally continued until Sengoku gave a drop shot, forcing Muromachi to the net, before Sengoku followed with a smash, gaining the point.

"And that's game and set," said Sengoku.

Muromachi was on the floor, panting. Midori observed silently as Sengoku walked over to the boy to help him up.

"Thank you for the compliment Sengoku-senpai," said Muromachi.

"Continue improving and practicing, you'll end up in one of the regular's position," continued Sengoku, giving Muromachi an approving smile.

Midori smiled to herself. It had just been confirmed that Sengoku genuinely cared about others, just like she thought a few days back when they had talked to each other in the park. She watched as the two boys made their way to their tennis bags. Almost right after they started putting their rackets away, Sengoku noticed Midori.

"Hey, hey Hisaku-chan~!" greeted the orange haired boy, hopping, almost skipping right over to her.

Midori nodded and replied "Hello Sengoku-kun," greeted Midori.

The young boy looked curiously at the two but that changed when the tennis ace gestured for him to come over to them.

"Hisaku-chan this is Muromachi Touji one of the members of the tennis club," introduced Sengoku "Muromachi-kun this is Hisaku Midori, one of the girls in my class."

Midori mentally sighed, a little upset of the way he referred to her. Maybe they hadn't really become friends yet. Maybe if she just spent a little more time with him, maybe even talking to him after school, they could become friends rather fast, just maybe. Then again, she didn't want to look like she was trading her friendship with Nakano, Hirano or Sato for his friendship.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hisaku-senpai," said Muromachi, bowing in respect.

"There's no need to bow," said Midori, smiling a bit.

"Hisaku-chan, did you go buy some new things today?" asked Sengoku, eyeing the bags.

Midori blinked before quickly hiding the bags behind her bag so neither the two could see the contents. She gave a nervous laugh.

"Y-Yes, just some new clothes you see," replied Midori.

"Cute clothes~?" teased Sengoku.

Midori felt her cheeks become red with the teasing. He just enjoyed doing that to her didn't he?

"Ja, ja let's go get the ice creams," chuckled Sengoku at the sight of flustered Midori.

The three made their way to the ice cream vendor. Muromachi bought a vanilla-flavored ice cream, Midori a chocolate-flavored ice cream and Sengoku a mint-flavored ice cream. The three sat down on a nearby bench.

"Muromachi-san wants to become a tennis regular?" asked Midori, licking her ice cream.

"Yes senpai, I've been working very hard, but… Maybe I'll only become one next year," replied Muromachi.

"But Muromachi-kun, you have to be positive and sure that you'll reach your goal in order to reach it," said Sengoku, encouraging the freshman.

"Really, Sengoku-senpai?"

"That and always follow your horoscopes," completed Sengoku.

"I still can't believe you follow those things," muttered Muromachi.

Midori chuckled at the two. The three chatted about quite a few things, ranging from school, sports and recent movies that were coming out. Sengoku seemed to be pretty hyped about the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie coming out. Midori listened to Sengoku talk and talk about the movie when she remembered; today was latest episode of Princess of Lacrosse! She had to get home fast.

Quickly getting up, she apologized to the two and left, running home with the bags, hoping that she wouldn't miss her favorite anime.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: 2nd filler chapter, this time showing more of Midori's fan side. And yes, all the pop culture references were intentional, even the Princess of Lacrosse (hint hint~). I find this chapter to be a little more dull compared to the other chapters, oh well~.<strong>

**In reply to the anon, I'll use Sengoku's motto: 'Fortune telling is random, getting it right is fate and getting it wrong is fate.' That fortune telling could technically be wrong as it could be technically right. He was lucky when it came to friendship, but maybe not in love. You decide for yourself.**

**And for the reviewer Raf Kowalski, yes all of the main chapter names coincide with the dates where the sign rules, that's one of the reasons for the amount of timeskips. ;) Lucky~**

**Ah~, and one last message, this time for everyone who is following me. School will start next week, so this will probably be a long hiatus until about April. So I hope you all are patient and stay waiting for the next update~!**


	8. Cancer

**Cancer**

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><p><em>25<em>_th__ of June Middle School Junior Year_

Midori was excited, today was her first anime convention in Tokyo and her Kumiko Tezuka cosplay was all complete, except for the hair clip that she didn't find. She had looked in many stores; from the large accessory stores for the small unknown ones, and nothing.

Sighing, Midori took one last look in the mirror, the blue uniform fit her perfectly and the fake glasses were a tiny bit too round, but were close enough to the glasses that the anime character wore. The tennis shoes were white, despite it being blue in the anime, but her allowance was already too little to buy the shoes for the cosplay, so that would have to do.

Midori made a final adjustment to her wig and smiled. If everything went as planned, she wouldn't encounter anyone she was familiar with in Yamabuki. Smiling, she grabbed her ticket to the convention and her bag before leaving the house.

Midori looked to the sides when she approached the train station, feeling a few stares. It wasn't as if it wasn't normal to receive curious stares, some approving the cosplay, others seeing as a waste of time and money and lastly, others looked at it with indifference. No one that she knew was in the station, good. Getting out the change in her pocket, Midori bought the train ticket. Boarding the train, Midori waited in happy anxiety.

Arriving at the large building, Midori could feel her face's expression turning into a large smile. She walked into the building. There were many people, many cosplaying and many not. There were some taking pictures with cosplayers.

Walking, through the convention, Midori stopped in front of one table, looking through the doujinshis of the Lucky Star fandom. She was fully distracted in her thoughts when…

"Lucky~! Minami, look, look, so many cute girls here~!"

Midori froze in her place. She recognized that voice anywhere, one of the persons that she least expected to be at the convention was here. Then again, it did make sense Sengoku to appear here, after all there could be cute girls dressing in cute cosplays.

"Hey, hey Minami let's go look at the people on the DDR."

"Alright, although, I wonder how you convinced me to come here in the first place."

"Ja, ja because it's boring to come here alone," replied Sengoku.

Midori breathed relief. He hadn't noticed her. She set down the doujinshi, maybe if she cautious, he wouldn't see her. Carefully, she looked around. He wasn't in sight, good. Walking around the convention, she caught sight of a stand selling very cute figurines.

Someone tapped her shoulder. Tensing, Midori turned over to look at who it was. She silently prayed that it wasn't Sengoku or his friend that he had brought. Turning around, she saw that it was a girl about her age.

"It's a pretty nice cosplay you have," she commented.

"T-Thank you," said Midori.

"Kumiko Tezuka?" asked the girl, looking at the details of the cosplay.

"Yes," said Midori, trying to put her most serious face.

The girl giggled.

"Can you take a picture with me?" asked the girl, eyes beaming.

"Sure," said Midori, happily complying.

Midori stood beside the girl, arms crossed with a stoic expression. This was maybe the first time that someone asked to take a picture with her in her cosplay. The girl was about to take the picture, when Midori spotted a familiar orange haired person in the nearby crowd. Doing the first thing that came in mind; Midori ran away from the girl and jumped behind the nearest pile of doujinshis, leaving the girl very confused.

Hiding behind the pile, Midori breathed relief. It seemed like he didn't see her, a good thing. The seller of the doujinshis looked at her puzzled.

"What in the world are you doing there?" he asked, frowning.

"C-C-C-Can I hide for a few minutes?" asked Midori "Please."

The seller seemed to think for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. Midori bit her lips, waiting for the judgment of the seller.

"You can stay hiding there if you buy one of my doujishis," replied the seller.

"W-What?" asked Midori.

"You can stay if you buy one copy," repeated the seller.

Midori blinked again, slowly digesting what he said. One copy shouldn't be that expensive, right? Quietly opening her bag, Midori searched for her wallet. The strange thing was she wasn't finding it in her bag. Shuffling the things around in her bag, her search proved fruitless. She had carelessly forgotten her wallet at home. She gave a nervous laugh as she turned to look at the seller.

"…"

"Um… I… Um… Forgot my wallet at home," started Midori, giving an awkward smile.

"Then you can't stay, leave." Came the short reply.

"B-But—"

"Leave now, don't make me call security."

"Y-Y-Yes sir!"

Midori scrambled to her feet and left her hiding place. Luckily for her, Sengoku wasn't around. Maybe he had gone to one of the workshops.

She sighed. This wasn't really her lucky day, first a classmate is here, and second she forgot her wallet at home. The day couldn't get worse, really. Walking around, Midori searched for the videogames exhibition, maybe the newest 'Tales of…' game was out.

Grinning to herself, she started making her way to the videogames exhibition section. A small crowd seemed to gather there, wondering what it was, Midori also approached the crowd. After much work, she managed to squish herself through the crowd to see what was going on. Two older teenagers, high schoolers maybe, were giving a show on the dance dance revolution game. Both were free styling on hard mode in one of the hardest songs in the game. Midori was so impressed that she joined the crowd in cheering the two on.

She stayed observing the two players for some time before she decided that it would be nice to visit one of the workshops. She would have to be careful though, Sengoku might still be there with his friend. She slowly walked to the workshop area, looking to her sides almost all the time, checking to see if he wasn't in sight.

Everything was going well, until Midori spotted in the distance a tuft of orange hair.

_Oh great! There he is!_

And there went Midori, this time opening the closest door and closing it. Breathing slowly, she felt that something was wrong. She wasn't sure of it, but she could feel that some were staring at her. Gulping, Midori slowly turned her head to see exactly which room she had entered.

She could feel her face going red. She quickly left the room and ran to the nearest shop, ignoring the strange looks she was getting from people. Next time she was going to enter a random room in a hurry; she was going to check the sign to make sure she wasn't entering the men's restroom.

Embarrassed by what happened and the fact that her stomach was growling, made Midori decide to go home. She wouldn't be able to buy lunch for she had forgotten her wallet at home and she didn't want to spend the rest of the afternoon looking over her shoulder to make sure that Sengoku didn't see her.

Sighing, Midori made her leave. At least she was smart enough to have put the train ticket money in her pockets before she left the house. If she hadn't, well, she would have to walk a long way home. Reaching the station, Midori bought the train ticket home and boarded the train as soon as it arrived at the station.

Arriving at the station near her home, Midori started trekking home. Thinking about the morning spent at the convention, she sighed. This was certainly the worst convention she had been to. At least in Kobe, she didn't accidently end up hiding in the men's restroom. On the bright side though, she was sure that Sengoku didn't see her.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes: Aright, although I said there wasn't going to be updates until April, I just couldn't resist the temptation and wrote Cancer. Ta-da~! Maybe not the best chapter, maybe it's the rate I'm writing in. For me it flows well, but the sentences might not be that smooth for the readers. Patience for when I get back to school, I will ask my English teacher to correct the already published chapters and for any future chapter that I will write during the school months. She'll act as a temporary beta reader and that is if she is not that busy. So the updates will be slow.<strong>

**Tell me~! Did you guys enjoy the chapter? Did it flow well? Did it feel rushed?**

**See you all next chapter~**


	9. Extra Chapter: Andromeda

**Extra Chapter:**

**Andromeda**

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><p><em>28<em>_th__ of June Middle School Junior Year_

Midori woke up very excited. The reason was that she was finally turning 14-years-old. Making her through the school gates, she calmly walked towards the main building of the school. A figure was following closely her, before jumping and glomping from the unsuspecting Yamabuki student from behind.

"…!"

"Happy birthday Hisaku!" yelled the figure, reaveling to be her friend Nakano.

Following right behind the blue eyed girl was her two other friends - Sato and Hirano. Hirano chuckled while Sato just shook her head at Nakano's silliness. Letting go of Midori, Nakano grinned. A wide goofy grin causing even Midori to chuckled.

"Happy birthday Hisaku-chan," finally said Hirano.

Sato nodded, soon after saying "Happy birthday."

Midori smiled brightly in response, before thanking her Tokyo friends. Now they had to decide what to do, after all, they could hang out after school and celebrate a friend's birthday.

"So… What do you guys want to do after school?" asked Midori.

"We could go to the arcade," beamed Hirano.

Nakano looked very excited at Hirano before giving the girl a high-five.

"After that we could go to a café that opened up recently," added the blue eyed girl.

"Café?" asked Sato.

"Yeah! I heard some girls talking about it," informed Nakano "apparently it's very popular."

Midori grinned; maybe they had her favorite dessert, cherry kakigouri. After all, summer was soon approaching and the heat of the season was arriving. The sun was shining brightly, kissing the skins of the students and faculty the other summer days, it was going to be hot.

"We should go there after school then!" exclaimed Hirano excitedly.

"Um… Guys," started Sato, interrupting the conversation "The bell just rang."

Nakano looked surprised, so did Hirano and Midori. The three had been so excited about hanging out together after school, going to arcade, eating at a delicious café – having fun in general, that they forgot completely about class.

"Then let's go! Takano-sensei is mean with the buckets of water!" shouted Nakano, leading the way.

The four friends rushed up the stairs, hoping they wouldn't arrive late and receive the punishment for being tardy.

* * *

><p>Class soon ended and the group of friends walked over the shoe locker room. The four chatted animatedly about the up coming summer vacation and what they could – and should – do during the vacation. To have as much fun as they could muster before it eventually ended.<p>

"Oh yeah, Hisaku-chan, before I forget, here's your birthday present," said Hirano, opening her school bag and taking out a small packet.

Sato mimicked the action, taking out of her school bag another small packet. "Oh right, almost forgot about mine too."

The two girls looked at Nakano expectedly. What kind of gift would Nakano give to Midori? Midori blinked once and twice, waiting as Nakano seemed nervous about the fact of the gift. After was it seemed like an eternity, came the small reply.

"I… forgot you gift at home," replied Nakano, giving a large, cheesy smile.

And the three friends sweatdropped. Why would Nakano forget to bring Midori's birthday present when she clearly knew that it was her birthday. Oh well, it just confirmed to Midori that Nakano was forgetful (just two days earlier she forgot to hand in some homework).

"I'll go home and get it ri—"

Sato grabbed Nakano by the shoulder, keeping her from going right away to her house to pick up the gift.

"We need to decide where we are going first, the arcade or the café," informed Sato.

That's right; they needed to decide if they were going to the café or the arcade. After all, if Nakano did leave to get the gift where would she meet them? At the café or the arcade? There was also the small problem that Nakano was the only one that knew where was the said café.

"Café first!" exclaimed Nakano cheerfully.

Sato facepalmed while Midori simply chuckled, Hirano, however did not seem amused.

"Arcade first!" she shouted.

"No! Café!" came the reply.

Sato sighed and interrupted the miniature verbal fight between the two.

"Well, Nakano, let's do a voting," suggested Sato.

Midori blinked. "Um… Guys, if Nakano is going to her house to get my gift, shouldn't we go to the arcade then? I mean, she's the only one that knows where the café is in the first place."

"Oh! Right," said Sato "Then it's pre-decided that we're going to the arcade."

Nakano looked upset that her idea of café first was rejected, simply because she was the only one that knew where the café was. Sighing, she accepted her defeat.

"Alright then, since it's decided I'm going home to get the gift," said Nakano, leaving to go to her house.

With Nakano leaving, the three girls started on their way to the arcade. It was close by anyway, about twenty minutes walking from there. Hirano chatted along with the two, telling them that the Yamabuki volleyball team was certainly classified for the nationals. After all they did beat feared Rokkaku's volleyball team by a large margin.

Arriving at the arcade, Sato bought the coins while Midori and Hirano explored the arcade. There was a wide variety of games, from the taiko to fighting games, from the mechanical claws to Dance Dance Revolution. The three enjoyed playing some games for a short while. That was when Nakano arrived with a gift bag.

"Guys!" shouted Nakano, entering the arcade, quickly catching the other people's attention.

Making her way over to Midori, Sato and Hirano, Nakano ignored the stares that she received. Midori on the other hand wished that she could be like her, being able to ignore stares, because right now she could feel everyone else in the arcade looking at her small group. The stares lasted a short while because then the others decided on doing their own thing.

"Happy birthday again Hisaku," said Nakano, handing Midori her gift then hugging her.

"Thanks Nakano," replied Midori, hugging her friend back.

The three played games for some time. Hirano was especially keen in trying to get a prize from the metal claw. It took some time (and half of their coins) before Sato managed to drag Hirano away from the mechanical claw. Midori and Nakano battled each other on the Dance Dance Revolution and Midori lost. Who knew that Nakano was great at keeping the rhythm?

"Are you guys hungry?" asked Hirano.

The three other girls turned to face their friend. Before any of them could reply, Sato's stomach gave an audible growl, causing her to blush in embarrassment. Nakano, Midori and Hirano laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes," chuckled Hirano.

"Keeping you and Nakano behaved leaves me hungry you know," replied Sato, chuckling.

Midori spoke up. "So Nakano, where's the café?"

"Oh, it's close by."

Nakano was the one that now was leading the group to the café. It took about ten minutes walking from the arcade. When reaching the café, Hirano and Sato blanched.

"Welcome back mistresses~!"

It was a maid café! And apparently, it was very full. Most customers were men; there were a few women in the café. Most women that were in the café were in groups unlike most men who were alone.

The maid waitress led them to a table of four and handed them the menu.

"Nakano, why didn't you tell us that this was a maid café?" asked Sato.

"I didn't know it was a maid café," replied Nakano, defensively "I only knew where it was, not what it was."

"Um… Sato-chan, let's just eat here," said Midori "It looks like they have good food here."

"But… oh alright, you're the birthday girl after all," sighed Sato.

Looking at the menu, Midori smiled as she thought of what she would choose to eat. Maybe a cherry kakigouri, those deserts were always so delicious – she just couldn't resist one. Yui hummed to herself while she flipped through the menu also looking for something delicious.

"So, should I take your orders?" asked a maid with a small notepad in her hands.

"Ah, yes I would like a piece chocolate cake and green tea please," stated Sato.

"Oh, I'd like this chocolate coronet," replied Nakano "and lemon ice tea please."

"Mhm~," hummed the maid, scribbling down their orders.

"I would like a cherry kakigouri and what do you want Hirano-chan?"

"Not sure… I kind of want a melon pan, but… not sure if I would want a crepe instead."

"Just order a melon pan, how long was it since you ordered a melon pan?" butted in Nakano.

"Long time ago…"

"Well?"

"Alright, miss I would like a chocolate crepe with strawberries, please," ordered Hirano.

Nakano looked shocked, as if she had gotten punched or insulted by Hirano, she had just suggested for Hirano to order something and she ordered something else instead. The whole circumstance and Nakano's reaction made Midori chuckle a bit.

"Oh come on Yui-chan, next time I'll order a melon pan," promised Hirano.

"You really promise?"

"Yup!"

The maid, who had taken notes on their orders spoke up. "Excuse me, but would you like anything to accompany on your chocolate crepe with strawberries, mistress?"

"Oh, right, I want a strawberry juice."

"Alright, I'll be getting your orders."

With that, the maid left to get their orders. The small group chatted a few minutes before they got excited about the gifts. Midori gingerly opened her book bag and took out the two small packets. Gingerly opening the first packet, she took the object from inside it. The gift from the athlete was a blue heart-shaped cellphone strap, while the gift from Sato was two flower hairpins.

"I was originally going to get you some books, but I wasn't sure what type of book you'd like so I got you some hairpins," explained Sato.

"Thanks Sato-chan, they're so pretty, especially the camellia one," replied Midori, pinning on her orange hair the pink hairpin.

"Oh, and what do you think of the cellphone strap?" asked Hirano, barely able to keep in her anxiety.

"I loved it," smiled Midori.

Nakano, meanwhile, grabbed the bag from beside Midori's chair and handed it over. Whatever she brought was certainly bigger than what the other two girls gave. Taking the item out of the bag, Midori placed a bright red crab plushie.

"Happy birthday Hisaku!" exclaimed Nakano.

Sato and Hirano sweatdropped at what their energetic friend brought. A crab stuffed animal, if it was a dog stuffed animal they would understand, but a crab? It wasn't even cute!

"Yui-chan, what's gotten into you?" started Sato.

"What?"

"I mean, what's with the crab plushie?"

"I thought it was a cute gift to give Hisaku," informed Nakano, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'd understand if it was cute, but it isn't cute at all," started Hirano.

"I—"

"But it is cute, and I bet that Midori liked it," retorted Nakano.

"Uh… guys—"

"Well, I bet that she didn't like it."

Midori blinked. To tell the truth, Hirano was right, the crab plushie wasn't cute, and it actually looked pretty ugly. The plushie had very skinny legs and a very round, almost like a perfect circle. Midori herself liked the gift because of what it meant to her, receiving a gift from a friend and spending time with them. It would be alright to lie there; if it was to stop the (senseless) fight, it was the perfect idea.

"So do you like it?" asked Nakano, staring at Midori.

"I do," replied Midori, picking up the plushie and hugging it.

"Hah! I told you so," started Nakano.

"Ok, ok, I get it," sighed Hirano.

* * *

><p>The four friends had a rather fun time together after the small discussion whether the crab plushie was cute or not. Chatting had gone through the topic of school, to summer vacation and to the school festival that was surely going to be held after the summer vacation. Time passed quickly and soon they had to bid goodbye for the day.<p>

Walking alone, Midori held tightly to her plushie. The stars above were shining brightly, and her smile was almost as bright as the stars. She had a wonderful birthday with her friends and she could not cogitate how the day could get even better. Actually, she could, mostly because she hadn't even talked to the person that had criticized her way of avoiding making friends. She still felt that she owed a lot to him, and maybe even just a small chat with him in this day would make it even better.

Midori was just walking in front of the tennis park, lights illuminating the park and the sidewalk.

"Hisaku-chan?"

Blinking, Midori stopped and looked over at the voice. There he was, Sengoku Kiyosumi, the resident skirt chaser at her school.

"I didn't expect to find you here," commented Sengoku, walking over at Midori.

"I was hanging out with a few friends," replied Midori.

Sengoku blinked and chuckled. "I see, cute hairpin."

Her cheeks lighted up in reply to his compliment. That only made him chuckle even more.

"So Hisaku-chan, where did you get the plushie?" asked Sengoku.

Midori blinked before she remembered that she was carrying the stuffed animal that Nakano gave to her for her birthday.

"Oh, I got it for my birthday," answered Midori.

"Wait, today's your birthday?" asked Sengoku, quite surprised.

She nodded.

"Oh wow, I didn't know. Hm… What can I give to you…?" started Sengoku, looking around.

"O-Oh, Sengoku-kun you don't need to give me anyth—"

"Nonsense! I can't leave a girl with nothing on her birthday. Got it, can I have your cellphone for a second?"

"R-Really Sengoku-kun, it isn't necessa—"

"Can I have your cellphone for a second? Pretty please?"

Midori blinked at the young boy before giving in. Fishing out her cellphone, she handed it over to Sengoku. With a few furiously pressing of buttons, he was done. He handed back the cellphone to Midori.

"What… did you do to my cellphone?" asked Midori.

"I added my number to yours as a birthday present. Now we can talk everyday?" grinned Sengoku.

Midori blinked. True, some days, actually, most days she didn't talk to him and she did wish that she could talk to him more often than now. Smiling, she bowed, expressing her gratitude.

"Thank you Sengoku-kun!" said Midori.

"No problem," replied Sengoku.

Looking over at her watch, Midori gasped. It was getting late, and her mother had said to her to be home as soon as she could after hanging out with her friends.

"I have to go now Sengoku-kun, see you tomorrow!" said Midori, before turning around and running to the direction of her house.

"See you tomorrow Hisaku-chan and happy birthday!"

"Thank you!" shouted Midori back.

Midori continued running all the way to her house. She couldn't wait to tell her mother about everything that happened to her today. The fun that she had with her friends, her gifts, everything. Maybe this was definitely one of the birthdays that she had so far.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: Wow, this chapter came in so late. I'm sorry guys, but with school taking up my time I had barely any time to write this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!<strong>

**Oh and before I forget, I am going to show you guys a surprise next chapter. ;D See you all next chapter!**


	10. Leo

**Leo**

_17th of August of Middle School Junior Year_

* * *

><p>Midori blinked as she watched the waves lap against the soft sand. She had arrived on the beach, warm sand under her bare feet and the cool breeze against her face. Looking around, the young girl searched for a familiar face. She had arrived alone at the beach, but she had agreed with Nakano to meet up there with Hirano. The trio of friends weren't going to be alone either, Sengoku was going to be there, hopefully with a few friends.<p>

"Heeeey! Hisaku!" yelled Nakano as she made her way to the sand.

Blinking, Midori turned around to greet Nakano. The black-haired girl grinned widely. Not far behind was Hirano, the short volleyball regular. The three girls, chose a comfortable place at the beach and laid their towels, setting up their base locations.

"So, when's Sengoku-san will be here?" inquired Nakano.

"I don't know Nakano. _You_ were the one that took my cellphone and invited him," replied Midori, sitting on her blue colored towel.

"Ah, ah, but it wouldn't be fun without your boyfriend around."

That comeback made the second-year blush; it had been a gift from Sengoku for her birthday, one that she received after much insistence from the skirt chaser. Even after dodging explaining it over and over again, they seemed to ignore that and tease her. Sengoku was only a friend. A friend.

"Come on Hisaku-chan, why so shy about it?" giggled Hirano.

"H-His not my boyfriend," came the stuttered reply.

"Calm down there Hisaku, we're just teasing you," chuckled Nakano, petting the orange haired girl

Midori sighed, she just wished they would forget about it. It had been two weeks ago that Hirano, Sato and Nakano found out that Sengoku had given Midori his cellphone number. And it all started when Midori forgot her cellphone at Nakano's house after hanging out with her and let's say that Nakano was on her way to return it when Sengoku had sent a text message to Midori's cellphone.

"Hm… I wonder where Sengoku-san is, shouldn't he be here right now?" complained Nakano.

There was a girl's scream that caught the girls' attention and there he was the silly skirt chaser with green swim trunk and an unbuttoned beige shirt. Right behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder was Muromachi Touji still wearing his blue lensed sunglasses and right behind the two boys was a girl that seemed to be older than the trio of friends.

Getting up, Nakano shouted over to the group.

"Hey! Sengoku-san! Over here!"

The skirt chaser looked over at the group and grinned. He then walked over to them, Touji and the girl following close behind.

"Hisaku-chan, Hirano-san, Nakano-san, hi there," greeted Sengoku, grinning.

"Hello senpai," greeted Touji.

The girl instead of greeting the three girls immediately she smacked Sengoku's head, apparently, he was leering at the three girl's bikini tops. More specifically Nakano's breasts.

"Kiyosumi! Stop looking at her like that," rebuked the girl "Sorry about that, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sengoku Kimiko."

"Like Sengoku-kun's older sister?" asked Midori.

"Yup."

Looking more closely, she did resemble the tennis player closely. Especially her face and narrow eyes though one of the main difference was the color of her hair and the color of her eyes. Instead of a messy orange hair, it was a bright red color and her eyes a deep blue instead of a light blue like her brother's.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kimiko-san," grinned Nakano "Oh, right, I'm Nakano Yui."

"And I'm Hirano Kurumi."

"Um… Hello, I'm Hisaku Midori," murmured Midori, feet burying themselves in the warm sand.

"Hisaku Midori? Ah! Hisaku-san, the one that Kiyosumi chats once in a while on the cellphone?"

Midori was sure that her two friends were now grinning widely. Here was one more reason for them to tease her and another reason for her cheeks to be painted scarlet together with her ears. Again, she and Sengoku were friends. Just friends, nothing more.

Sengoku chuckled a bit.

"There, there enough with introductions," he started.

"Oh right, what should we do?" asked Kimiko.

"Eh?" blinked Hisaku.

"I brought a volleyball, we could maybe play some volleyball," grinned Hirano.

Hirano and her passion for volleyball. It was actually what made her train hard every single day, to improve so she could be in the volleyball team as a regular. A comical sight since the rest of the regulars seemed to be a head taller than her.

"Hm… That sounds good."

Midori nodded. It would be a fun thing to do, play volleyball for a bit. She turned to face Sengoku to see that… He wasn't there anymore; instead he had wandered off to chat with a cute girl that was in the vicinity. Muromachi couldn't help but to sweatdrop at his girl-crazy upper classman. Kimiko sighed, walked up to her younger brother and dragged him away.

"I saw a beach volleyball here while walking with Kiyosumi and Muromachi-san."

"That's great! Let's go then!" exclaimed both Hirano and Nakano at the same time.

Midori could only chuckle at the energy that her two friends exhibited. The group then left some belongs where they left their towels and trekked towards the beach volleyball court. Once in a while Nakano would steal the volleyball from Hirano's grasp and the two girls would chase each other.

"So, Hisaku-chan," started Sengoku "I quite surprised when you sent me the message inviting me to the beach with your friends."

"E-Eh? It wasn't me though," replied Midori "It was Nakano."

"Nakano-san?"

It was true, the same day that Midori forgot her cellphone at Nakano's house and the said person was returning it to her. Apparently, Nakano had sent the message inviting Sengoku over to the beach and asking him to bring some friends along. Midori had to explain all that to the Yamabuki Ace who only laughed at the story.

"I see," he replied, chuckling.

"Here we are!" exclaimed Hirano, excitedly.

Midori looked over at the court. It was a rather good size and the net high. Right now it seemed quite doubtful that Hirano would be able to spike like she claimed she did. Then again, Midori went to see her during her practices so she wouldn't know.

"Alright, then let's divide into team. Kiyosumi, Midori and Nakano against Hirano, Muromachi and I," stated Kimiko "Any objections?"

"But I—" started Hirano.

"Objection denied. Let's start," interjected Kimiko, smiling.

Hirano pouted but went along with the team choices. Hirano and Muromachi took their places at the left side of the court while Kimiko took her place at the base line. Midori took her place near the net with Sengoku while Nakano took the back.

"Ok! Here I gooooo!" yelled Kimiko, throwing the ball in the air and serving it.

The ball floated over the net over to Nakano, who jumped to return it. The ball bounced back to Hirano's side of the court. Before anyone could react, the volleyball hit the soft sand with a violent impact… On Nakano's side of the court. Nakano looked shocked together with Midori while Sengoku wasn't fazed by Hirano's spike.

"Nice shot," he said in English.

Midori learned from now on never to doubt Hirano and her spikes, for doubt her spikes was doubting that Shounen Jump wasn't going to start a new series; they always did, good or bad.

Kimiko whistled, impressed at Hirano.

"Your turn to serve~," sang Hirano twirling.

Nakano silently picked up the ball and went to her position behind the line. Throwing up the ball, she hit a serve. Muromachi gave a small bump making it sail over the next. Sengoku spiked the ball. Kimiko jumped and made a saving bump and that was when Muromachi gave another bump; giving the perfect opportunity for Hirano to spike. Before Midori could even think she was already jumping up to make a defense. Though… two seconds ago it seemed like a good idea until she noticed that the spiked volleyball was headed right to her face.

_Bam!_

Midori could only feel the pain of the ball hitting her face and her friends shouting; before she landed on the floor and slipped out of her conscience.

* * *

><p>"Uh…?"<p>

That was the only thing that Midori could mutter after waking up.

"Finally up sleeping beauty?" asked a female voice.

"How long was I out?"

"Three days."

"What?"

Quickly sitting up, Midori looked at the direction of the voice to see a laughing Kimiko sitting beside her. The lazy rays of sun were turning orange and at a distance she could see Hirano, Nakano, Sengoku and Muromachi playing around in the water; Hirano splashing water at Nakano while Sengoku and Muromachi kept swimming, probably racing each other.

"Just kidding," she started "You were out cold just a few hours."

"Eh? Why aren't you are with the rest?" asked Midori, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I can't just leave someone who's unconscious alone," started Kimiko "I actually had to calm down Hirano-san and Nakano-san. It also took quite a while to convince Kiyosumi for him to enjoy the rest of the day."

Midori blinked before looking over at the group. A soft breeze came and went.

"Come on, let's join the others. You still got to enjoy the beach," winked Kimiko.

"Um… Sengoku-san—"

"Come on Hisaku-san, there are two Sengoku siblings here, just call me Kimiko-san."

"R-Right, Kimiko-san," started Midori "So the rest were worried about me?"

Kimiko chuckled before taking a very surprised Midori in a headlock and rubbing her hair.

"Of course, why wouldn't they be? Friends always worry about friends right?"

Slowly, the orange haired girl nodded, before looking down at her feet. So she almost ruined the day for the rest of them, thanks to what she did. She gave a small sigh.

"Hm…? What are you sighing about?" asked the red haired girl.

"Ah? Oh, it's just it's my fault that I almost ruined the day."

"Oh come on, the volleyball thing? You out cold? Oh relax, what's gone is gone, let's just go and have some fun."

Midori looked up at the older girl. She was right, one shouldn't feel guilty about past actions. Just like in name, past actions remained in the past. Kimiko released her from the headlock with a grin then got up, stretching.

"So? Are we going to have some fun?"

"Y-Yeah!" came the enthusiastic reply from the middle schooler.

"Then let's go~!" replied the older girl before racing up to the shoreline.

Midori couldn't but to grin brightly. Kimiko was right, friends always worry about each other and there wasn't any reason to doubt her words when she told her that they almost forgot to have fun when she was out cold.

Smiling, the green eyed girl followed the older girl to the water. Even if the day was ending, she was going to have some fun even if it was a little with her friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Talk about long awaited update of StaSky. Hm... The chapter seemed so much better in my mind and it was longer than expected. Oh wow, anyway, announcements, I am going to summer school but that doesn't mean that I won't write chapters for the fanfic. It merely means that I won't post any new chapters until August.<strong>

**Oh and while you all faithful readers were curious to know about the surprise I had... Well, it is a A Starry Sky Just For Us fanpage. The link is in my profile if anyone wishes to see it.**

**That's all for now and I hope you all stay in tune for the next installment of StaSky.**


	11. Virgo

**Virgo**

_17__th__ of September of Middle School Junior Year_

* * *

><p>It was like other school day. School had started some days ago and everyone seemed to be caught in the fervor of the soon coming school festival. Every class was going to do something and Midori's class was no exception. Arriving in her classroom, the clamor of voices were mingling as everyone discussed, her small group of friends greeted her.<p>

"Hisaku!" screeched Nakano rushing over to Midori and grabbed her hand.

Her classmate dragged her over to Sato and Hirano, her two other friends and classmates.

"So, so? What do you think what they will choose?" started Nakano.

"For the school festival?" came the question from Midori.

"Well duh!"

Midori blinked. The only things she could think have been either doing a café or a haunted house. Then again, those were the usual ideas that students would come up every year. Plagiarizing the outdated idea over and over again, clearly no one seemed to have a creative way to make great amounts of profits. Not that she could come up with anything better, like the rest, the first two ideas that came to her mind was no more than a haunted house or a simple café.

Sighing Midori shook her head.

"O nly the usual, we can either do a café or a haunted house."

"Oh ok," muttered Nakano seemingly disappointed.

Before the four friends could continue, the bell rang announcing the time for class. Students that were right outside the classroom poured in and the students inside the said classroom took their place. As expected, the teacher conversed to the class about the necessity of having a booth in order to raise fund during the culture festival almost instantly a student gave the suggestion of a café.

Suddenly something clicked in Midori. Maybe they could do a maid café! Raising her hand, she waited until she was called on. The nervousness then came.

"Yes, Hisaku-san?" asked Takano-sensei.

Midori blinked, blankly staring at the teacher. She could feel eyes staring at her accentuating her nervousness and her idea went blank. She couldn't remember it.

"U-U-Um… I… Um…" stuttered Midori.

"Hisaku-san, if you are not going to collaborate and simply waste our time then don't raise your hand in the first place," rebuked Takano-sensei.

Feeling quite dejected, the young girl sat down. She could hear a person or two snickering at her failed attempt of giving an idea. That made her feel worse, it felt like a burn in the back. Looking around, Midori searched for the eyes of a friend, and the first friend that she locked eyes with was the second person who reached out to her, the person that she pushed into the river. Sengoku Kiyosumi.

The young boy simply smiled and nodded. A reassuring, glance as if to say to her not to worry at all. This small gesture made the orange haired girl feel better and a tiny smile graced her lips before they parted and mouthed the words "Thank you".

"Sensei, what how about we do a haunted house?" suggested a girl from the back of the class.

A silence filled the room for some time. A pin could be dropped and a sound would be heard. Nervous beads of sweat formed on the girl's forehead, waiting for the judgment of the teacher. A careful nod was given and the student breathed relief. The idea was approved and the class was going to do a haunted house like many previous years.

With the class finally decided, the classes resumed like always. Math was hard, history was a breeze and English, well, the words are still a bit hard to pronounce. Lunch came, passed, and afternoon classes seemed to go by as a flash. The bell rang and students poured out in the hallways. Chitter-chatter filled the hallway while three students stayed behind to clean up the classroom.

Midori was with her three friends, Nakano, Hirano and Sato. Hirano gave a quick goodbye and sped away to her volleyball practice. The three girls, Hirano, Sato and Nakano walked towards the shoe lockers.

"Ah! Did you guys understand anything at all during math class?" Nakano asked, flailing arms in frustration.

"I kind of did understand," informed Midori.

The subject in math class was the quadratic formula, a rather long and tedious formula, easy to get lost in. At least in Midori's mind. Maybe she could help Nakano, though she knew someone else who would probably help her better.

A sharp ringtone filled the brief silence and the young raven haired girl took the cellphone out of her school bag, holding it against her ear. After some 'ahams' and nodding gestures, Nakano held her hands together and bowed.

"I'm so sorry, I can't home with you guys. Mom said that my aunt's family is coming over for dinner and I need to help her prepare dinner."

"Oh, relax," replied Sato "there's always next time."

Midori nodded. "Also, maybe we can have a study session soon in one of our houses."

"Yeah! Maybe the next study session can be at your house, Hisaku," smiled Nakano "You've been here for almost six months already and you never invited us to your house."

Midori blinked. It was true, but what would they think of her if they knew that she was an otaku? That she enjoyed cosplaying, and had some good piles of manga and figures? Midori shifted uncomfortably.

"How about we study at my house instead?" suggested Sato.

"Good idea," interjected Midori, laughing nervously, getting strange looks from her two friends.

"Oh well, we can decide later, see you two tomorrow!"

With that Nakano turned around and left the shoe locker room. Sato turned to Midori and smiled, that was before her cellphone gave a small alarm. Taking it out of her cellphone she checked to see a small notice. Her smile faded to a frown before it morphed into a sigh.

"I forgot, I have oboe practice today," said Sato "Sorry Hisaku-chan."

"It's ok, Sato-chan."

Bowing apologetically, the taller girl gave a goodbye and left the locker room. Midori gave a small wave. Turning then to her locker, she slowly took her shoe out, sat down and started putting it on.

"Lucky~!"

That voice. She knew that voice anywhere. Looking up, she was greeted with his usual goofy grin. Smiling back Midori finished tying her shoelaces.

"Thanks for earlier," Midori said.

The tall boy tilted his head in confusion.

"For what?"

Midori blinked. Ah, how should she explain? She was thanking him for the reassuring glance and nod when she wasn't able to tell him her idea for the culture festival. Maybe it wasn't meant her in the first place, maybe he was simply checking out a classmate.

"Well... Um... You know, in the classroom. The culture festival," explained Midori, getting up.

Sengoku blinked, before 'ahhhing' and returning to his grin.

"That? Oh relax Hisaku-chan, that was nothing," said Sengoku "Just because you weren't able to give an idea you shouldn't feel down."

He chuckled and petted her head causing the shorter girl to blush.

"Plus, what was the idea in the first place?"

"Well... um... it, was a maid and butler café," said Midori.

The serial flirt chuckled. "That would be a great idea Hisaku-chan, but, well, I don't think that Takano-sensei would want the school to spend money with the uniforms and I don't think that the others would want to buy the uniforms."

So her idea wouldn't even be accepted in the first place. Looking at the floor, Midori tried to hide her blush of embarrassment. Why would she even think of suggesting that if it was going to be rejected in the first place?

"But it was still a pretty good idea."

"T-Thanks."

The young boy smiled and petted Midori's hair. "Ah, Hisaku-chan, have you seen the tennis practice yet?"

"Your tennis practice?" the 2nd year asked.

"Mhm, I guess you've never seen me practicing tennis yet. You know, I'm lucky at it~!"

Blinking, Midori thought for a bit. It was true, very true that when they talked through the telephone, Sengoku would always talk about his tennis practice. That or the cute girl that she saw in the park, but that was a whole different matter. Going back to the tennis matter, the young boy would sometimes tell Midori his great victories during his tennis magic, some being maybe a tall tale.

"You have nothing after school today, right Hisaku-chan?"

Midori nodded slowly.

Sengoku grinned as if he was hoping for that answer. "Great! So you can actually come and see me practice. Come on!"

The young girl's hand was grabbed by the taller boy's and was dragged all the way over to the tennis courts. One or twice she almost tripped on her way. He seemed very excited to show her the tennis practice. As they reached the courts, a boy with spiky hair was waiting outside of the courts, arms crossed and an unpleased facial expression. Apparently, tennis practice had started and Sengoku was late.

"Where were you?" asked the boy.

"Just talking with Hisaku-chan!" replied Sengoku, gesturing to Midori.

The short girl shifted nervously under the boy's watchful eyes. He seemed to be the captain of the team since he was the only one who wasn't practicing the strokes like the rest of the lined up boys.

"Um... Hi," Midori said.

The boy nodded, acknowledging her presence. He then turned to Sengoku with a stern face.

"Go get changed and practice 300 forearm strokes," ordered the boy.

Sengoku sighed and ran off to the clubhouse, leaving Midori alone with the boy. The brown-haired boy turned his gaze to Midori, it was notably softer since he had sent the late tennis player to get ready.

"Sorry about that, Minami Kentarou, captain of the Yamabuki team," he introduced himself.

"Hisaku Midori."

"It's nice to meet Hisaku-san."

Minami turned to leave. Midori blinked, she wasn't sure if she could stay to watch the practice or not. Well, Sengoku did invite her in the first place. Better to make sure than to assume and get in trouble.

"Um! Excuse me, Minami-san," called out Midori.

"Hm...? Yes?" asked Minami as he turned around to see her.

"Um... Sengoku-kun invited me over to see tennis practice... so... can I stay and watch?"

Minami raised an eyebrow before chuckling.

"Of course you can. Sengoku did invite you to watch and anyone can watch our practices."

Midori eyes brightened before she quickly bowed in a thank you, even though it wasn't necessary. Minami gave a sheepish smile at the bow, it wasn't really necessary, he had just informed her that anyone could see the practice.

"Well, I have to go now. I hope you enjoy watching the practice," said Minami before entering the courts.

Midori approached the fence of the courts. The ground of the courts were made out of dirty, unlike the tennis courts of the tennis park which were of concrete. Most of the club members were done and drenched in sweat when Sengoku entered the courts and started his forearm strokes.

She couldn't help but to feel a sorry and guilty that it was because of her that he arrived late. Thinking again and reflecting on past conversations that she had with him, it reminded her that either he would skip tennis practice or simply arrive late. His attitude towards tennis seemed pretty lax though she did see him playing tennis once, and that short sighting had impressed her.

Some of the tennis players moved to the courts on the far right to practice their serves, some were on the far edge of the courts, running laps close to the fences, finally on the far left only a select few of about eight stood there. She wondered what the few would do there. Maybe curl-ups or push-ups.

"Made it,desu!"

The sudden exclamation surprised Midori. Looking to her side she saw a younger boy, dressed in white shorts and shirt. He clutched closely the fence, his warm brown eyes shining brightly as he watched the practice continued.

"Good thing I didn't miss the regular's match," he commented to himself.

Looking over at the group, she guessed that they were the regulars. That thought was confirmed when Sengoku, after finishing his late forearm strokes joined the group. So they were the regulars, so they practiced via matches.

The first singles match progressed at a steady rate before it ended. The next one was Sengoku against a third-year. An extremely tall, blond boy with a black racquet. Midori silently observed. Was Sengoku actually good enough to go against and win? The boy was so tall that he seemed to be very close to being two meters tall.

"Daisuki Fukuyama, 3rd year..."

Looking over again at the young boy, she saw that he was holding a small blue notebook that was opened.

Over at the courts, the service had already been decided. It was going to be Sengoku to serve. He served the ball that went sailing over to Daisuki. The sound of the impact of the tennis racquet hitting the ball caught Midori's attention. She snapped her head to see the match.

Daisuki easily returned the ball. Running towards the net, Sengoku hit a volley that was returned as a lob. Rushing backwards, the lucky teenager barely hit the ball that by a very lucky chance was a net ball. The yellow ball fell harmlessly and bounced twice on the court.

"Lucky~."

"Love – Fifteen," called a studented doing the counting.

The orange-haired player served the ball. This time, Daisuki couldn't even return the ball, it seemed as the ball had disappeared. Midori blinked twice, even rubbing her eyes to see if it wasn't playing tricks on her. It was true, the ball had vanished and reappeared, it was very fast.

"W-Wow..." muttered Midori.

"Love – Thirty."

As the game progressed, it was clear that Sengoku was better trained than the older boy. The first 'lucky' point was simply an act. While Daisuki was using brute and strong strokes, Sengoku was varying between net-hitting balls, high flying and hovering balls. Sengoku did lose some points, but in general, he won.

"5 – 7! Sengoku wins!"

"Ah~ Lucky, lucky. That was a great match Fukuyama-san~," said Sengoku, shaking the taller boy's hand.

"..."

"Oh come, you need to smile more Fukuyama-san, or you won't attract cute girls~."

"Shut up."

With that Daisuki Fukuyama made his way to the bench to rest.

Midori watched the rest of the tennis practice. She didn't understand much of tennis, but she was almost sure that she had seen a great tennis match. Looking beside her, the younger boy seemed to be scribbling in his notebook. Neat hand writting filling the page with information of the match he saw. Deciding to mind her own business, she remained quiet.

It didn't take much longer after the tennis match, tennis practice ended. It ended at the same time that the sun was starting to hide itself. Lazy orange and yellow rays painting a beautiful picture on the canvas that was the sky.

Midori was leaning by the school wall, near the entrance as she waited Sengoku get changed for them to continue going home. She looked over to her side and saw the serial flirt coming her way. Smiling, she walked up to him and thus they began their trek to her house.

"Hisaku-chan, did you enjoy watching tennis practice?" asked Sengoku, as he waited beside Midori for the bus to arrive at the bus stop.

"Yeah! I... well... I did catch a glimpse of you practicing, but, um... I never knew that you were so good," started Midori.

Sengoku chuckled before petting the shorter girl's head.

"I've started tennis seven years ago, when I was six," informed Sengoku, smiling and looking up at the sky.

"Wow... So long."

"I know, right. I always knew that I was going to be lucky in this sport~. Lucky~!"

Midori chuckled. The bus appeared on the horizon and screeched to a stop in front of the bus station. In about twenty minutes they were going to arrive to the bus station close to Midori's home.

The young girl watched the sky turn from a kaleidoscope of warm colours into a light navy blue and the stars starting to come out.

"Hey, Hisaku-chan, you like to watch the stars right?" asked Sengoku "You know, we never really sat down together and appreciated the stars."

Midori turned over to face Sengoku. "Ah? Oh right, that's true. The only time that we were together under the stars, was that time when you said for me to open up."

"That's true, how about we do that today? Just chat around."

"Um... I'm sorry, I can't today. I really need to study math, I don't-"

"Don't really get the completing the square?" asked Sengoku, grinning.

"Y-Yeah! How did you-"

"It's a secret~." was his reply, a finger silencing him.

Midori smiled, before jokingly whining. "Please, tell me your secret."

Sengoku chuckled before pointing to the faded stars. Not many could be seen, but the message was implicit, astrology, the pseudo-science of predicting the future by viewing the stars. Sengoku was a fan of the horoscope, too bad it wasn't too correct when it came to love, but at the field of friendship... It seemed to be head on.

"It's written in the stars," he informed Midori "Plus, my horoscope said that someone was bound to ask for help today. So I'll help you study for math!"

"E-Eh? But I didn't-."

"Of course you did Hisaku-chan."

"Sengoku-kun..."

Midori attempted to frown, but she couldn't and broke into a giggle. "Thanks for everything..."

"Don't thank me," replied Sengoku, smiling.

"Oh, right. What's your sign Sengoku-kun? As in zodiac sign?"

"Sagitarrius. The archer, why you ask?"

"Well, you know mine... It's only fair I know yours. So you're a Sagitarrius. Is your birthday is in November?"

Sengoku twirled his index finger in the air before nodding. The bus came to a stop as they arrived at the bus station. The two got off and headed over to Midori's house that was about a block away.

"Correct~. Twenty fifth to be exact," completed Sengoku "So... My birthday is close. Only about two months."

"So that means I have to buy your birthday present soon!" exclaimed Midori "Um... What do you like?"

"Swimsuit magazines!"

"E-Eh?!"

How was she going to buy though things without getting strange looks? Looking over at Sengoku, her eyes were almost as wide as saucers. Her brain trying to process what he had asked her for his birthday. His serious face morphed into a grin before he burst out in laughter.

"Just kidding."

"Ha... ha... I actually fell for that," laughed Midori.

The duo arrived at Midori's house. The young girl thanked her friend for walking her home. Smiling she said.

"Sengoku-kun, be sure that when your birthday comes, you'll get the best present from me!" exlcaimed Midori happily.

Sengoku chuckled before petting her hair causing the orange haired girl to blush again.

"I'll be waiting for it."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Sorry for such the long wait. Summer camp did not let me write and the confusion of changing schools didn't help. Writer's block was an obstacle I got over and well, you can always wait for the next chapter. Libra, will be quite exciting with what? Can you guys guess? Also, a question for my lovely reviewers. Who are you favorite supporting characters so far? When StaSky finishes (which will still take a long time, it's not half-way through yet OTL.) the favourite supporting OC (Nakano, Kimiko, Sato, Hirano, Nakano's little sister) will get their own multi-chaptered story.<strong>

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


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